Spotify's growing popularity was this week validated fully after it announced the launch of an application on the iPhone, owned by rival iTunes owner Apple.

While the application is free, users will have to sign up to the premium service if they are to get the coverage on their mobile, while regular users are still able to listen for free on their PCs with adverts on the non-charging version.

Will Cooper, the deputy news editor at New Media Age, explained that it was hardly surprising, especially given that Spotify is really doing well in the industry and has even managed to get onto the iPhone, which he described as the "perfect" platform.

He added: "The thing about Spotify that people love most is that it has kind of brought back the mixtape. You don't really think of iTunes in the same way. It is perhaps not seen as the same kind of fun platform that Spotify is."

Spotify created the music application in order to make music a more social experience, allowing individuals to share and create playlists online through such things as Facebook.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.